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Sad news today of the passing of Dudley Fuller.
http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Dudley-Fuller-1929—2014.html
His Fullerscope telescopes will be classics forever.
Callum
That is sad news. Dud was certainly a great character and great entertainment. His Fullerscopes telescopes really looked the part too. I had a 12-inch Newtonian on a MkIV mount for many years and it did a pretty good job although some of the mechanical engineering was novel. That was never Fullerscopes’ strong point. I also used the 18″ f/7 at Charterhouse, Somerset when I was a lad. It looked very impressive in the 1975 Handbook photo shown below and was even more impressive close up although it was a brute to use and I think Jeremy Shears had broken it before I got there…
Nick.
Sad news indeed and the end of an era. I always enjoyed the entertainment of meeting Dudley Fuller when I visited Telescope House in London. For several years as a teenager I owned a Fullerscopes 6-inch reflector with “A” grade optics in a shiny white tube on a MkIII mounting. And one of the best views of M13 I have had was with the 18-inch Fullerscopes Newtonian at Charterhouse (Nick, I didn’t break it – it was somebody else who grabbed hold of a massive tube counterweight which came off in his hand – I just had to stand there balancing the tube on my head whilst help was summoned!).
Jeremy
Although I cannot claim to have known Dudley well personally, I well recall visiting his shop in Golders Green before he moved it to the much more convenient Farringdon Road. In the early 1970s for a time there was a huge 8-inch Cooke refractor which somehow had been set up as a window display. I am told it was eventually bought by someone in Saudi Arabia. Later I used just such an instrument at Cambridge and was able to appreciate how good an 8-inch OG can be. I also recall buying an eyepiece holder from Dudley in the mid-1970s and getting him to take it out the back to machine it to fit a flat tube instead of a curved one. He was very quick on the lathe!
A sad loss indeed. I remember Dudley from the early 1970’s at his shop/workshop in Finchley Road, Golders Green, North London. He sold me my first “proper” telescope a 21cm (no, let’s call it by it’s real name…. 8.5 inch!) reflector on a Mark111 mount. I still have the instrument but have now cuccumb to using Chinese made, pretending to be American, Meade and Celestron telescopes. Dudley always gave good advice and did not encourage you to buy what he believed was beyond your sensible budget.
The massive 8 inch Cooke refractor referred to above was indeed bought by a rich arab and set up next to his floodlit swimming pool just to show and impress his guests with views of the Moon! I seem to recall that Dudley came across the telescope when it was in a poor state being stored in a dusty shed. All the brass work had been painted over matt black! Although thankfully the optics were in perfect condition. Dudley and his team spent many hours refurbishing it to its former glory. I wonder where it is now.
Such a sad loss but at least comfort can be taken from the positive impact Dudley made in the amateur astronomical community
Without people like Dudley I would say that the amateur scene would be vastly less developed than it is today
Regards
Dave
Such a sad loss. to all of us who knew Dudley.
He was a real character. I remember him driving me across London at break-neck speed in his Volvo while operating his car’s wholf whistle at all the girls we passed.
He might have had a business but when we met in his small Golders Green workshop we would chat for ages about amateur optics.
Regards,
Ron
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